The Alberta and federal governments hailed a State Department report Friday that said the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would not be a significant contributor to climate change, saying it sets the stage for the project to go ahead.

President Barack Obama still must wrestle with whether to approve TransCanada’s $7 billion proposal, which would see Alberta oilsands crude shipped to the United States Gulf Coast for refining and has prompted fierce opposition from environmental organizations.

In a statement, Premier Alison Redford said the State Department’s Final Environmental Impact Assessment "is an important step toward approval of a pipeline that will build our economic partnership with our friends in the U.S. and help foster North American energy security and independence."

The project has been pegged as crucial for Alberta and Canada to be able to access world prices for its landlocked supply of bitumen.

The report says the development of the Alberta oilsands is driven by many more factors than a single pipeline and rejects the argument by environmental groups that stopping the pipeline would thwart the oilsands.

"The dominant drivers of oilsands development are more global than any single infrastructure project," said the report’s executive summary.

"Oilsands production and investment could slow or accelerate depending on oil price trends, regulations, and technological developments, but the potential effects of those factors on the industry’s rate of expansion should not be conflated with the more limited effects of individual pipelines."

Redford said the province’s lobbying in Washington — including multiple trips by the premier — had paid off.

"We have been clear that opening new markets is job one for our government, as it will ensure fairer prices for the resources every Albertan owns, allowing us to invest in building a stronger, more secure Alberta.

"Alberta has always respected the U.S. decision-making process and we expect the President’s final decision will be based on science and fact, as confirmed in today’s ... statement."

In a statement, federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver also welcomed the report.

"The U.S. government has been reviewing the project for over five years. This has been a lengthy and thorough review process," he said.

"The benefits to the U.S. and Canada are clear. We await a timely decision on this project."

The latest environmental review, the fifth released on the project since 2010 — acknowledges that development of tarsands in Alberta would create greenhouse gases, a State Department official said. But the report makes clear that other methods of transporting the oil — including rail, trucks and barges — would release more greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming than the pipeline.

However, the Keystone debate remains far from the finish line.

The Environmental Protection Agency and other U.S. government departments now have 90 days to comment on the report while Obama will have the final say.

Greenpeace Canada’s Mike Hudema said the State Department’s contention that Keystone won’t increase greenhouse gas emissions because the oilsands will be developed anyway is "deeply flawed."

The further growth of shipping oil by rail isn’t guaranteed because of growing opposition to the practice and a demand for safer — and more costly — rail cars, he said.

"It’s a very dangerous assumption to make and the reality is that if this pipeline is built it’s a pipeline that both industry and the Canadian government have pushed so heavily for because it’s integral to the development and expansion of the tarsands," said Hudema.

"If President Obama really wants to tell his kids he did everything he could to fight climate change ... he must reject this pipeline."

Meanwhile, opponents in the United States are threatening to bury the project in litigation.

There’s already a lawsuit in Nebraska to prevent the governor from forcing landowners to allow the pipeline on their path. And there’s an ongoing State Department internal investigation into conflict-of-interest allegations against contractors who worked on the report, but had also done past work for pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.

Obama has been squeezed on one end by activists within his party, including influential donors, and on the other side by powerful economic interests, the please of America’s northern neighbour, and criticism that the stalling has undermined his goal of creating jobs.

The Canadian government has become increasingly strident in demanding an answer soon. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was in Washington recently pleading for a prompt reply, saying he didn’t want to see another construction season wasted.

Shares of TransCanada rose lightly on the news, just over one per cent in the minutes after the release of the report.

The company has complained of having lost money while its already-purchased materials for the pipeline sit idle. Pipeline workers, meanwhile, have complained that the uncertainty has hurt them financially.

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